The boss of the NHS has condemned “racist, sexist and violent” remarks by Frank Hester, the health tech entrepreneur and Conservative donor.
Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, made clear her shock at Hester’s comments about the former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott in a briefing to senior health service leaders.
In her weekly “healthcare leaders update”, which she sent on Monday, Pritchard said she shared the “shock and disgust” that many people in the NHS had expressed after reading last week about Hester’s comments.
The Guardian revealed last week that at a meeting in 2019, Hester, whose company the Phoenix Partnership (TPP) is a major NHS supplier, said seeing Abbott on TV made “you want to hate all black women” and that the long-serving MP “should be shot”. Hester later apologised for the remarks but denied they were motivated by race or gender.
TPP has received more than £400m in contracts from the NHS and other government bodies since 2016. It also manages the software for more than 60m patient records across the UK.
In her circular, after addressing other issues, Pritchard said: “I want to end this note by addressing an issue that has shocked many of us over the last seven days.
“I’ve spoken to a number of colleagues – including at Wednesday’s meeting of the NHS Assembly – who have told me of their concern and disgust at the racist, sexist and violent comments alleged to have been made by Frank Hester, the chief executive of TPP.
“I completely share these concerns. The alleged language and behaviours reported are a long way from our NHS values. They should not be tolerated, wherever they occur.”
Pritchard made the comments after coming under pressure from within the NHS for much of the previous week once the Guardian had disclosed Hester’s remarks, to condemn them. There is frustration inside the organisation that she did not do so much sooner.
Speaking on Saturday, before Pritchard issued her briefing, one NHS England director said that they and others were deeply concerned by her “radio silence”, which continued for almost six days after the prime minister said late last Tuesday that Hester’s comments were “racist and wrong”.
Some staff believe that its leadership has betrayed the values underlying its stated mission to improve inclusion and diversity by not “calling out” Hester sooner and more firmly.
In an illustration of the depth of feeling at NHS England’s response to Hester’s views, Chris Parsons, its deputy director of collaboration services, twice last week used his account on X to air his concern at its inaction.
On Monday 11 March, the day the story appeared, he tweeted: “Racist, misogynistic, hateful and utterly abhorrent comments from a privileged, arrogant and boorish man who should have no place near the NHS and should never have been awarded an OBE – shame on you.”
And on 14 March, after health tech professionals had voiced their disgust, Parsons tweeted again, this time criticising NHS England’s “shameful” lack of public comment.
He said: “For the avoidance of doubt @NHSEngland and @NHSDigital this is what taking a system leadership stance looks like, your silence is shameful – when are you going to publicly condemn Frank Hester’s racist, misogynistic and hateful comments.”
Pritchard denied that she had been slow to act. Her regular weekly bulletin to NHS chiefs on Monday was her first opportunity to respond to Hester’s “horrendous” remarks, NHS England said.
An NHS spokesperson said: “We reject these claims, which are wrong and unfair. Ever since these horrendous allegations emerged, NHS England has condemned them in multiple forums and Amanda Pritchard addressed the issue unequivocally in her first weekly bulletin to staff since the allegations came to light.”
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said on Tuesday that he had written to Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, to ask her to look at the contracts and say whether they were fulfilling what the NHS has commissioned them to do and whether they were consistent with the values of the NHS.
He told LBC: “I ought to be careful I think, about whether I go any further, because there is every chance if we win the general election, that this sort of thing might come across my desk, and I don’t want to prejudice any future decisions.
“However, I think his conduct is simply appalling, and what has genuinely shocked me has been the extent to which leading figures in the government have sought to initially deny it was racist, and misogynistic.”
